Presumably the last of the Evelyn Waugh novels dealing with the adventures of Englishman Guy Crouchback immediately prior, during and just after the Second World War, The End Of The Battle gleams with all the old audacity, macabre romanticism and cadaverous jollity which have made Waugh probably the supreme satirist of our day. For those not familiar with the previous Crouchback pursuits, the author has provided a synopsis, and though that's a curt and crowded affair and the opening pages rather stuffy, nevertheless as one gets into the odd-named, odd-ball characters and many-faceted plot the grand pattern becomes clear. Essentially Waugh is following his representative last-man-of honor hero through the Battle of Britain and using him as a guide to its nonsense and its glory. After movingly describing the funeral of Crouchback's Catholic father, the author then brilliantly tackles the return of Crouch-back's former wife, the much-married, breathless Virginia, who-pregnant from one of her lovers- gets Guy to the altar once more, takes up religion, motherhood and the good life, only to meet death in the London blitz. During that time Crouchback has been away serving UNRRA and negotiating with Tito's partisans on behalf of some Jewish refugees. What Waugh has to say both of Americans generally and the invidiousness of Dalmatian commissars particularly should infuriate the jingoists of either camp. But whether he is doing vignettes of Guy's Halberdier regiment or his quaint bachelor uncle or a daemonic friend who becomes a phony best-selling author or behind-the-scenes glimpses of battle stations, nursing retreats and social and sexual wartime mores, Mr. Waugh is always lumecane and incorrigible. And beneath the cold sparkle and baroque charm and chatter, the serious render cannot but help find real people and really human, if worldly, concern. A palpable hit.
Pub Date: Jan. 10, 1962
ISBN: 0316926205
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1961
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
